A radio access network (“RAN”) transmits a data stream to or receives a data stream from a mobile station. For example, the mobile station comprises a mobile telephone, personal digital assistant (“PDA”), or personal computer. The data stream may comprise one or more data packets. In one example, where the data packets are associated with a non-real-time application, the radio access network applies a general network treatment to the data packets. For example, the non-real-time application comprises an internet web browser, email, or a file transfer.
In another example, where the data packets are associated with a real-time application, the radio access network handles the data packets with the same general network treatment. For example, the real-time application comprises a voice over internet protocol (“VoIP”) call, a push-to-Talk (“PTT”) conversation, or a video teleconference.
A delay in delivery in one example results from the general network treatment. For example, the radio access network employs a radio link protocol (“RLP”) retransmission system to retransmit data packets that fail to reach a termination point. The radio link protocol retransmission system may introduce delay in delivery of the data packets. The radio link protocol retransmission system prevents delivery of a data packet until previous data packets are delivered. Since the non-real-time application is not as time sensitive as real-time applications, the delay in delivery may be acceptable for the non-real-time application. However, due to the quality and temporal requirements of the real-time application, the delay in delivery in one example is unacceptable for the real-time application. As one shortcoming, the general network treatment applied to the data packets by the radio access network unacceptably interferes with operation of the real-time application. Such an interference with the operation of the real-time application decreases a quality of service provided by a network for the real-time application.
Thus, a need exists for promotion of an increase in quality of service provided by a network for a real-time application.